How Quickly Can a Mortgagee Complete an Uncontested Foreclosure Action in NY?

Albeit a generally unpredictable process with varying timelines depending on title, service, and collateral issues etc… When the process aligns well, a foreclosure action in New York can be completed from Summons and Complaint to Judgment in approximately 6 months. Most recently, I represented a Lender where we filed a Complaint and Notice of Pendency on February 5, 2013. The matter proceeded through the foreclosure conference part with only one conference before being released. Thereafter, an Order of Reference was granted and the Referee’s Oath and Report was sent to the Referee within that week. Finally, the JFS was granted shortly thereafter on August 6, 2013 (Only 182 days of an open file).

Generally speaking, the ability to complete a foreclosure with such a quick turnaround is not the norm; however, it is my position that this should be the norm in certain counties. All things considered, attorney delay should not cause a file to reach the shadow dockets of various counties because an attorney loses a file in the shuffle.

Furthermore, failure to do the necessary due diligence on a file before it is put into suit also facilitates timelines of multiple years before receiving the opportunity to have judgment granted or what is becoming more common a “restart.” In the past and even so today, many firms are of the position that they should proceed without doing a strong initial review of the collateral file to ensure that the action is iron clad. Because of this “rush to judgment” attitude, where the firm expects the court to overlook infirmities in papers, many firms have caused significant prejudice to their clients and promoted a large amount of the backlog that we see today.